


The Window Incident

by bisexualyoda



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Bending (Avatar TV), Bisexual Katara (Avatar), F/F, First Dates, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, High School, Humor, Lesbian Disaster Azula (Avatar), Mean Girl Azula except she's socially awkward, Modern Era, katara thinks shes cute though, mai and ty-lee think the whole thing is hilarious, so.... like the show then, zukka if you squint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-04
Updated: 2021-02-04
Packaged: 2021-03-15 22:49:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,365
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29197140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bisexualyoda/pseuds/bisexualyoda
Summary: Trying to escape Katara's house via the bathroom window wasn't the smartest thing Azula had ever done, but in her defence, she'd had no idea they were on a date.Or; Azula is the most clueless of clueless lesbians.
Relationships: Azula/Katara (Avatar), Background Mai/Ty Lee
Comments: 20
Kudos: 203





	The Window Incident

Azula stared at the back of Katara Water’s head all math class. It was a ritual for her. Every lesson, her golden eyes would trace the brown locks with something between sick fascination and contempt. She didn’t know when it had started. She didn’t know why she did it either, but ever since the girl had moved in front of her, she was a constant presence in the lessons, and thus, so was the staring.

The two had spoken a handful of times, though it was always very, very casual, and there was nothing of meaning ever exchanged between them. As far as Azula’s opinion on Katara went – she didn’t have one. The girl was captain of the swim team, which she respected, and she’d always smile at Azula in the corridors, but she was the sort of girl that would smile at anyone. They walked in separate circles, too, often attending the same parties but never conversing. Azula had never thought much of it. The only thing she truly thought about was Katara’s shampoo. She must use a particularly strong one, for Azula to be able to smell her hair a whole two metres away.

The fixation on Katara’s hair was probably just because of how in-the-way it was. She could hardly see the board.

“Azula? What do you think the answer is?”

Azula blinked, prying her eyes away from the head of wavy brown hair.

“Sorry?”

“The answer?”

“Oh, yes. Of course.” She muttered, glancing desperately from the sheet in front of her, to the teacher. The answer did not lay in a place she could easily extract it. The blackboard behind him didn’t help either; it was covered in sums that Azula hadn’t been copying down, hadn’t even been trying to understand. “I… Hm…”

“I don’t have all day.” The teacher sighed. “Anyone else?”

And for the first time that year, Azula hadn’t managed to answer one of the teacher’s questions. Shame gushed through her like a broken dam.

The brown hair in front of her opened up to a brown hand.

“Yes, Katara?”

Azula almost growled. The fact that this girl had the _nerve._ It was _Katara’s fault_ that she hadn’t been able to answer the question. The girl needed to buy a comb. She sat directly in front of Azula, her mangy mane directly in her eyeline, smelling pungently of coconut or something else equally delicious and entirely inappropriate for a maths class, and frankly, it was a distraction. If Katara brushed her hair, or put it into a ponytail, or used a non-scented shampoo, Azula would have been able to pay attention.

At the end of the lesson, Azula grabbed her stuff with an irritated huff and strode from the classroom. She didn’t bother to look back.

There were lots of classes that Azula didn’t like, but math was never meant to be one of them. She was the best at math. What had just occurred was an awful slip-up, one she would not allow to occur again.

After every math class, Azula would stop at her locker, and that day was no exception. She was a little disappointed to see that Mai and Ty-Lee weren’t there, as they often were between periods. They were probably in a supply closet somewhere, defiling each other and the space underneath them.

Azula wrinkled her nose in distaste at the thought, as she took out a book from her locker, so she wouldn’t be completely bored in _religious studies._ She didn’t see the point in the lesson. It wasn’t informative in the least, and everything that was discussed was entirely boring and idiotic, and worst of all _theoretical_ – there was no way to prove whether or not god existed, without dying and returning, so why must they discuss it for three hours a week, for six months straight?

The book she was reading – an autobiography from a war criminal who spent the rest of his life seeking redemption – was far more interesting.

A hand slapped the patch of locker at the side of her face. Slowly, her eyes flickered from the blurb of the book over to it. The hand was brown-skinned, with slender fingers, each one clad in a silver ring. One of the rings had the star sign symbol of cancer on it. Azula hated water signs.

She turned, to see the girl who was affectively holding her in place. She managed to restrain her reaction.

“Can I help you with something?” She asked dryly.

It was Katara, the girl from math class. Her hand was pressed next to Azula’s face, palm against the cool metal of the lockers, and her wide blue eyes were looking straight into hers. This was something Azula couldn’t even begin to understand. Perhaps Katara was there to gloat, after the embarrassing math incident. The two had never spoken prior to that point, so it was probably that. Still, that certainly didn’t solicit whatever half-baked Kabedon was occurring at that moment.

Azula, for some reason or other, was fairly disliked by Katara’s friends. She knew that much. This encounter was nothing short of _unorthodox._

Actually, the reason they disliked her was probably her argument with Aang, a boy in said religious studies class. She was ready to throw him out of the window every time he opened his tiny chapped mouth. He had strong beliefs, which Azula accepted, but was constantly pushing them down everyone’s throats. _We get it, you’re a vegan._ Anyway, this irritation had culminated into a particularly nasty (and one-sided) screaming match, in which she’d implied that if she agreed with corporal punishment – which, to Aang’s obvious surprise, she didn’t – she would only want it to be put in action in order to dispose of weed-like bald boys. He’d cried. At seventeen years of age, he’d cried. She’d been sent out of the class to ‘cool down’. His friends hadn’t liked her after that, if there glares were anything to go by.

“Actually.” Katara said, louder than was necessary. Their faces were inches apart. Azula’s eyebrows shot up. “I can help you.”

Azula tilted her head. “Oh? What, pray tell, do you think I need help with?”

“Uh, math.” Katara blinked. She seemed to be deflating in front of Azula’s very eyes, her confidence slipping away as if through a sieve. “I can… Tutor you.”

“But I’m a genius.” Azula frowned, a little offended, but more so perplexed. “I don’t need tutoring?”

“Wouldn’t a genius know what seven cubed is?”

Azula’s frown deepened. “It’s three hundred and forty three. Of course I know that. Do you know who I am?”

She was Azula Agni. She _knew_ math.

Katara looked undeterred. Confidence and some form of heroic determination was affluent on her features – it was a look Azula hardly recognised. “Then, if you knew, why didn’t you answer the question? You always answer the question.”

So, _that_ was what the teacher had asked. Azula weighed up how she could reply to Katara in her head. Which was the least embarrassing reply? She could hardly tell her that she hadn’t been paying attention. That would be humiliating beyond measure, even without telling Katara the reason why she hadn’t been paying attention. Not knowing the answer to a math question was also humiliating, though. She hummed in contemplation.

“Unsure.” She said, going with the _woman of mystery_ option, and hoping she didn’t sound the fool. “Anyway, why does that solicit a conversation with you? I don’t have a free period right now.”

At this point, Katara must have realised that her palm was still placed on the locker directly next to Azula’s head, and awkwardly retrieved it. About a foot of space was retracted between them; Azula hadn’t realised how close she was still standing.

“Well, you’re late to every math class.” Katara said, folding her arms.

“So, you’re the enforcing the laws of tardiness now? Under what authority?”

“The what? No, I mean, if you’re late for maths, you can be late to second period.”

“Well, I don’t need tutoring.” She said. It honestly felt like an understatement.

“I’m doing it for free, though.”

“You wanted _compensation_ otherwise _?_ ”

“So, you won’t come.”

Azula’s eyebrows rose up. She actually thought that Azula would deign to let Katara help her? What kind of—? Sure, Katara was not exactly someone who Azula would hate to associate with. That isn’t to say she would _like_ to, but Katara wasn’t completely irredeemable. She was popular, since she was nice and liked by everyone (not the kind of popularity that Azula valued, but still popularity all the same), and she was attractive, especially up close. The blue eyes of the South suited her perfectly.

Nevertheless, Azula wouldn’t be found dead being tutored. It was beneath her. If her father found out, she probably _would_ be found dead, a month later, in a gutter somewhere.

Katara seemed to misunderstand what Azula’s reaction meant. “Not like that! I meant come as in, C-O-M-E. Like, to go towards something.”

“I know what come means.” Azula said flatly. She had no idea what this peculiar girl was going on about. She didn’t even want to know, as amusing as this little interaction had been.

“Of course you do.” Katara laughed nervously. “Anyway, it’s okay! You don’t have to come. I was just… Offering my help. My friends tell me I’m too motherly, so it’s probably that, oops. I don’t think I’m motherly though. Just for the record. They just say the stupidest of things sometimes. Especially, my brother, Sokka. He’s on the soccer team, actually, so you might know him. My brother and your brother are actually—”

Azula rolled her eyes. The resolve she came up with surprised even herself. “—If I agree to let you tutor me, you’ll shut up?”

“I, uh. Yes. Yes, I will. Sure.” Katara closed her mouth abruptly.

Azula smiled darkly. “Much better. Since your brother knows Zuzu, I’m sure you can get my number on your own. I guess I’ll see you later.”

She only agreed to it to shut Katara up. She obviously didn’t need tutoring.

“It’s a date.” Katara said with smile, before she took off to whatever lesson she had next.

Azula turned over that expression of speech in her mind.

On the way to her second period class, she opened her phone to reply to her friends’ group chat. Ty-Lee and Mai were the only people she whole-heartedly trusted, and they were both completely reliable when it came to the two things she sought in friendship – loyalty, and amusement.

**Ty-Lee:** girlys!!!!

 **Mai:** I will break up with you.

 **Ty-Lee:** baby what :(

 **Mai:** don’t say girlys.

 **Mai:** I literally carry a knife in my bag

 **Mai:** im not a girly

 **Azula:** I’m not sure you should so readily admit to harbouring a weapon, Mai.

 **Mai:** you know what? I hate you both

 **Ty-Lee:** anyway girlys

 **Mai:** perish

 **Ty-Lee:** come to mine after school!!!!

 **Mai:** no

 **Ty-Lee:** my parents and sisters aren’t home

 **Mai:** ……..still no

 **Ty-Lee:** aaaaand the fridge is full

 **Mai:** ok fine

 **Azula:** unfortunately for you both, I have other plans.

 **Azula:** don’t let my absence ruin your evening

 **Azula:** you two should make a date out of it

 **Ty-Lee:** where are you goinggggg?

 **Mai:** are u pretending to have other friends again?

 **Azula:** I HAVE other friends

 **Mai:** ok

 **Mai:** who.

 **Ty-Lee:** mai don’t be mean

 **Azula:** anyway, it’s that girl from my math class.

 **Ty-Lee:** Katara? The one with the pretty hair?

 **Azula:** she does not have pretty hair.

 **Mai:** I literally have screenshots of you saying she has pretty hair.

 **Azula:** no you don’t.

 **Mai:** wanna bet?

 **Azula:** those screenshots are unfounded.

 **Azula:** I said that in an inebriated state.

 **Azula:** it was not an accurate statement.

 **Ty-Lee:**?

 **Azula:** inebriated means drunk, Ty-Lee

 **Ty-Lee:** drunk from what??? You don’t drink????

 **Mai:** drunk from the pretty hair

 **Azula:** whatever. Her hair is irrelevant.

 **Azula:** she’s invited me to her house, to tutor me.

 **Ty-Lee:** to TUTOR YOU????

 **Ty-Lee:** but ur a genius! You don’t need tutoring!

 **Azula:** that’s what I said

 **Mai:** ty, you feed her ego too much.

 **Mai:** anyway, it’s obviously a date

 **Azula:** it is NOT a date

 **Azula:** don’t be absurd

 **Ty-Lee:** I was thinking that

 **Ty-Lee:** it’s probably a date

 **Ty-Lee:** maybe a hook up lolz

 **Azula:** why on earth would it be a date?

 **Mai:** I like how a hook up would make sense 2 u

 **Azula:** I am fairly attractive, mai

 **Ty-Lee:** well, lets look at the facts

 **Mai:** here we go

 **Ty-Lee:** you’re both hot lesbians

 **Mai:** katara is bi im pretty sure

 **Ty-Lee:** oh my bad

 **Ty-Lee:** you’re both hot lady lovin ladies

 **Mai:** you managed to make it worse than bi erasure

 **Ty-Lee:** and katara KNOWS youre a lady lovin lady

 **Mai:** dear god stop

 **Ty-Lee:** and she asked you over to study

 **Ty-Lee:** for a subject that you are really good at

 **Ty-Lee:** that’s SO sus

 **Mai:** it’s a date

 **Azula:** I promise, it’s not a date.

 **Azula:** she clearly just wants to rub in my face that I got an answer wrong

 **Mai:** you got an answer wrong ?

 **Azula:** yeah, I wasn’t paying attention

 **Mai:** w h a t ?

 **Azula:** anyway, it is not a date.

 **Azula:** aren’t you both horrendously late?

 **Ty-Lee:** we’re skipping

 **Mai:** you are not welcome to join us btw

 **Azula:** trust me, my friend, I wouldn’t dream of it

 **Azula:** see you at lunch

“Late again, Miss Agni.” The teacher said, as she entered the religious studies classroom. She didn’t apologise. Instead, she put her middle finger up at Aang in a way the teacher wouldn’t see, taking glee at the way his bottom lip trembled, and made her way to her usual seat – the one at the very back of the class, where she could read her book in peace.

In between second period and third period, she got a text from an unknown number.

 **???:** i live on kyoshi street, number six

 **???:** but I can just take you there after class, so meet me at my locker ;)

Azula had the comprehensive skills and contextual understanding to determine this number was Katara’s. How bothersome. She rolled her eyes, especially at the _winky face._ She hated emoticons. She put her phone back into her pocket, not giving it another thought as she made her way to AP lit.

“Make sure you tell her she’s beautiful.” Ty-Lee said, as soon as Azula reached the lockers after third period. Azula tilted her head.

“Why would I do that? She’s apparently, deigning to teach me math, and I’ve already seen her today so complimenting her appearance at this point would be redundant. The fact that she thinks I need help is preposterous. If anything, I’m insulted.” Azula opened her locker, finding her purse so the three of them could go get lunch at the burger bar they usually frequented. They wouldn’t be caught dead in the cafeteria, not when all that was served was steaming piles of slop.

“You should tell girls they’re beautiful when you go on dates with them.” Ty-Lee said it with a pout. She was holding hands with her grumpy-looking girlfriend, who practically blended in with the walls. Ty-Lee had been making her wear more colours, and Mai had decided on red. An admirable choice. “Isn’t that right, Mai?”

“Whatever.”

“She says you should.” Ty-Lee said, as if Mai needed translating. Sometimes, she did.

“Right.” Azula said. “Next time I go on a date, I’ll be sure to say it. But this isn’t a date.”

“Sure.”

“Sure.”

Both of Azula’s friends said it at the same time, one with a bright smile and the other with a slight smirk. Azula would kill them both if she could get away with it.

“Well.” She said, beginning her march to the burger bar. “What _should_ I say? On this not date. I’m thinking I’m going to turn it into a tutoring session for her. Flip the tables. It’s probably the only way to keep a shred of honour.”

“You are unfathomable.” Mai said dryly.

“Tell her she has a nice house!” Ty-Lee said. “Just be super polite. If her parents are there, be nice to them, but not too casual. Stay respectful.”

“Her parents won’t be there.” Mai said. She was looking at something on her phone. From her expression, anyone would think she’d rather be looking anywhere else – but that was just her face.

“How do you know?” Ty-Lee asked curiously. The three of them crossed the street.

“The only reason you ask someone on a date to your house is if your parents aren’t there.”

“Well, her parents will be there, then.” Azula said. “Since it’s not a date.”

“I still think it’s a date.” Ty-Lee said. “Think back to the event. What did Katara seem like? Did she say anything romantic?”

“No. If anything, she was odd.” Azula frowned, thinking back to it. “She seemed uncomfortable.”

“You have that effect on people.” Mai said flatly. She pocketed her phone when they reached the burger bar. They were probably their best customers, since they came here every day, and Azula bought the three of them a ridiculous amount of food each. Azula needed the fat-filled delights, since she was captain of the tennis team, and probably burnt more calories in one session than most did in a week of regular exercise. Ty-Lee was a gymnast, who burnt off nearly as much as Azula, and Mai just had a wickedly impressive metabolism.

“The usual.” She told the waitress. She smiled at Azula, and Azula smiled back.

“Disaster lesbian.” Mai said.

“What? I was being polite.” Azula frowned.

“Anyway, back to Katara. What’s she like? I’ve only talked to her at parties. I thought she was dating that bald kid, too.” Ty-Lee said, cuddling up to Mai. Absently, Mai put her arm around Ty-Lee’s shoulder. Azula felt a clench in her chest. Jealousy? She was long over her crush on Ty-Lee, and her crush on Mai. What a foolish reaction.

“She’s…” Azula paused, eyeing a passerby through the window. “Good at math, I suppose. And I was certain she was dating Aang as well, now that you bring it up. But, I suppose it doesn’t matter since it’s not a date.”

“No, her and Aang broke up.” Mai was looking over the menu, despite the fact that they’d already ordered. Azula knew this was because she hated eye-contact.

“What? When?” Ty-Lee said. “How did you know this before me?”

Now that _was_ odd. Ty-Lee was somewhat of a gossip-monger. People came to her with gossip, she gave them gossip in return, though Azula knew that Ty-Lee never gave more than she was given – despite her persona, Ty-Lee was far from stupid. Azula found it amusing. She’d probably find it useful one day, too.

“Zuko told me.”

“You converse with my brother?” Azula demanded.

“We’re _co-workers._ And he talks to me. I wait for my shift to end.” They worked at a strange shop in the mall. Azula had never visited such a place, and she never would. They sold band t-shirts and press-on tattoos and cheap bottles of hair dye. Nothing that Azula might need. Still, it fit Mai’s aesthetic. As to why Zuko worked there, Azula could only wonder… It wasn’t like they needed the money. Maybe he had a crush on Mai. The thought was intriguing.

“Oh yeah.” Ty-Lee nodded. “Zuko is friends with them both. Makes sense. Did he say why they broke up?”

“Something about Aang being too clingy. Or was it that Katara had cheated on him?”

Ty-Lee shook her head instantly. “That doesn’t sound like her.”

“Maybe she cheated on him because he was too clingy?” Azula offered, with a vague hand gesture. She didn’t care either way. The thought of Katara in a relationship with that bald-headed wannabe monk was not amusing. In fact, it was deeply, deeply unamusing. She hated when women dated men that were so wildly below their league. It felt like a crime against society.

“Who cares?” Mai shrugged.

“Azula does! She can’t date a cheater!” Ty-Lee exclaimed.

“I see your point, Ty.” Mai nodded.

Azula tried to butt in. “It’s not a date.”

They ignored her.

“We need to find out somehow. Give me Zuko’s number.”

“Here.”

“It doesn’t matter because it’s not a date.” Azula interrupted their little scheme. “I don’t care if she cheated on that bald eagle. I would too if I was dating that vegan. And frankly, it’s none of my business.”

The waitress put their food in front of them. Azula smiled at her again, but this time she was met with an odd look. Perhaps she’d smiled too widely. She replaced the expression with a scowl, and felt far more comfortable.

“You’re boring.” Ty-Lee yawned, picking up her burger and digging in.

“Oh, I think it was because she started to like someone else.” Mai said suddenly. “Zuko said… He said that Katara started to think of Aang as a friend ages ago, but only broke up with him when she started being attracted to someone else, because she knew that Aang still had feelings for her.”

“That sounds more like her.” Ty-Lee nodded. “She’s super nice, but probably too nice for her own good. Once, Jet got totally wasted at this party, so she got him in his car, and she started driving him home. The only thing was, the party had been at _his_ house.”

Azula’s lips formed a straight line. Katara sounded like an idiot. Why had she agreed to being tutored by an idiot?

“She sounds wet.” Mai observed. “I don’t think I’d be her friend if given the option.”

“Well, she is a water sign. So, me neither.”

“She told you her _star sign?_ ” Ty-Lee gasped, mouth full of burger. A small sliver of lettuce fell onto the table in front of them. Mai reached over and put it in her own mouth. Azula tried not to grimace.

“No, she was wearing a ring with the symbol for cancer on it.” Azula said, before adding, “I hate water signs.”

“How did you even know it was the symbol for cancer?” Mai asked.

Azula paused, unsure of what to say.

“Oh wait.” Mai raised her hand in apology. “You’re a lesbian. I forgot.”

“Cancer and Leo are quite compatible, you know.” Ty-Lee added, as if that correlated in anyway with what Mai said.

“It’s not a date.” Azula said, for the umpteenth time.

“Ready to be tutored?” Katara said with a smile that might be classed as teasing. She had been waiting outside Azula’s period five class, her final class, with an aura of calm patience. Azula prickled.

“I don’t _need_ to be tutored.” She clarified.

Katara smiled at her like she was proud of something. “I know. But you agreed to do it. We can just hang out, if you don’t actually want to do math.”

“No.” Azula said flatly. “ _I’m_ going to tutor _you_.”

Katara’s eyes widened. They were very blue.

“I don’t need tutoring.” She said.

“Well, neither do I.” Azula said back.

“Glad that’s sorted then.” Katara grinned, although _what_ was sorted, Azula had no clue. “Come this way.”

“Where to?” Azula asked.

“A secondary location, so I can murder you.” Katara said easily.

Azula found herself laughing. She didn’t like the way Katara was looking at her as she did so, though. Laughing was meant to be a private affair.

“My locker.” Katara said, before walking away down the corridor and into the evermoving crowd of students. Azula had no choice but to follow her. She’d already texted the family group chat to say that she was going to someone’s house to study, so there was no getting out of it. Upon reflection, hours later, she realised she could have just gone to Ty-Lee’s. But she hadn’t.

“How did you know what class I had?” She asked as they walked.

Katara shrugged. “Zuko told me.”

“Ah. Curse the family group chat.”

She’d been forced to send her timetable so Ozai could send her work to do in her free periods, to make sure she was always working towards her goals. Since Zuko had to do the same, the transaction had been completed on the family group chat. Unlike her brother, she hadn’t save her sibling’s timetable. Why was he such a freak?

Katara snickered. “I’m so jealous. My brother hates texting, and my Dad doesn’t use his phone at all, so we’ve never had a family group chat.”

“And your mother?” She asked, peaking at her own phone to see exactly sixteen new messages; fifteen from the family group chat in question, and one from Ty-Lee wishing her good luck on her ‘not date’, which didn’t need the quotation marks in Azula’s opinion.

“Oh, she’s… You don’t know?”

“Know what?” Azula asked impatiently. She knew pretty much everything, so Katara would have to be more specific.

“My mother she, uh, died.” Katara said quietly.

“Oh.” Azula hadn’t known that. “I didn’t know that.” She said. “My apologies.”

“You don’t have to say sorry.” Katara said quickly, waving her hands frantically. “It was three years ago now. I’m definitely over it.”

“I didn’t say sorry.” Azula said shortly, before adding, “I don’t say sorry.”

“Oh. Okay.” Katara frowned.

A steel-like silence passed over them.

Azula winced. This was a terrible, terrible day. She wanted to go into the courts and toss some serves and possibly cut herself some terrible bangs to match the day. Instead, she thought back to some of the advice Ty-Lee had given her for the ‘not date’. Something that even Mai had agreed would be good was to ‘find common ground’.

“Well, if it makes you feel any better,” Azula said. “My mother left my father and her children to go start a new life with a different family, and we haven’t seen or heard from her in five years. So, I suppose you could say I understand the absence of a mother, in the same way you do. I have to imagine you feel more positively about your mother than myself, however.”

Katara blinked. Once her shock passed, she ended up smiling. “That… Does sort of make me feel better.”

Azula smiled back, despite every nerve in her face screaming at her not to. She probably looked ridiculous. “Good.”

Katara’s locker was at the other side of the school to Azula’s. This made sense, since the lockers were allocated alphabetically. ‘Agni’ and ‘Water’ were never going to be placed next to each other. Her lockers were next to the drama building, and there was a whole crowd of people stood around the locker they needed. One of them was her brother. Azula stifled a sigh.

“Hey guys.” Katara said brightly, lightly pushing a short girl with messy black hair and bare feet out of the way of one of the lockers, and opening it up. Azula looked at the girl’s bare feet, more specifically at a hunk of dirt lodged between two toes, before turning back to Katara. She took out a gym bag, slotting it over her shoulder. “I thought you guys were going to the beach?”

Azula stood back, awkwardly waiting for the scene to end. She didn’t have anything to say to any of these people, not even to her brother.

Aang, the bald eagle as Azula had so ingeniously coined him, put his hand on Katara’s shoulder and grinned at her widely. “We were waiting for you. I know you love the beach.”

Azula wanted to tell him that everyone loved the beach, but she held her tongue.

“Not today.” She smiled back at him. “I’m having a study session with Azula.”

The entire group turned to stare at Azula with bewildered eyes. Azula got a good look at all of them – there was her brother, stood next to Sokka, holding his hand for some odd reason. There was the barefoot girl, who Azula remembered from her gym class the previous year (she was blind, and a better soccer player than almost everyone else, and for that she had earned Azula’s respect). There was also a pretty girl with soft brown hair and pretty eyes. She didn’t seem to like Azula, either, from the way she was looking at her then. No doubt she’d heard about what Azula had said to Aang.

“Azula.” Zuko managed to stammer, letting go of Sokka’s hand as if an act of platonic affection was something to hide.

She raised an eyebrow at her brother. “Hello, Zuzu.”

Aang looked positively heartbroken. Nevertheless, he managed to croak out, “She can come… Too… If she wants? You should come to the beach with us, Katara.”

“No, Aang.” Katara said more firmly. “I’m not coming. I already told you I didn’t want to come today. I told you twice.”

This seemed to upset Aang even more. Azula was only growing more uncomfortable. If she could fall out of her skin, she might have. The rest of the group seemed to be sharing similar looks, and Sokka reached out and grabbed Aang’s shoulder. Once he had the bald boy’s attention, he whispered something and shook his head. It only seemed to worsen Aang’s mood, but he relented, his back hitting the locker and his face pouting like a baby’s.

“I thought you were busy today? You said on the family group chat you had plans.” Zuko asked Azula conversationally. Zuko would have to stop blabbing about the embarrassing family group chat. It was getting, well, embarrassing.

“Yes. Busy with Katara.” She said, as if it was obvious. For some unknown reason, this made Katara smile. The brown haired girl – it was Suki, wasn’t it? – let out a long and exasperated sigh.

“Really, Katara?” She said. “Azula?”

Azula raised her eyebrows. “I’m very good at math, you know. And I’m an excellent study partner. Long hours of meditation has trained me for intense periods of focus.” She knew it was bad to brag, but sometimes she simply couldn’t resist.

They all turned to her like she was insane. This interaction was becoming more and more intolerable. Katara was still smiling. She grabbed Azula by the hand and began to pull her away from the group, still waving goodbye at them all.

“What was that about? Why not go to the beach?” Azula mumbled, taking her hand back from Katara. Katara looked at their split hands for a second, before moving an inch closer to Azula – an inch that was _unwelcome_.

“Aang is my ex.” Katara said. “I guess he might not be over it yet. I need some distance from him. And that whole situation, really.”

“Ah, yes. Mai told me that. You are wildly out of his league, so don’t feel bad about it.” She informed her.

“You sound so sure.” Katara said quietly.

“Because it’s a fact. You’re bi, aren’t you?”

Katara looked surprised, meeting Azula’s eyes incredulously. “Yes… I am.”

“Then date a girl next time. They’re much prettier. Although, I suppose objectively boys can be more handsome.” Azula shrugged. “Just try to pick someone with hair.”

“Okay.” Katara said. Azula didn’t have to look to know she was smiling. The girl seemed to funnel her emotions into everything she said. “I will.”

They began to walk from the school building down an adjacent street, one lined with trees. Azula didn’t know exactly where Kyoshi street was, but she knew it was around here somewhere, one of the local streets. Mai, Ty-Lee, and Azula had been friends since pre-K, and they all lived in the large estates at Capital Heights, so the three of them only really came this way to go to school.

“You play tennis, right?” Katara asked. She held up her gym bag. “I do swim team.”

“Cool.” Azula said. She thought about Katara, wearing a swimming costume, emerging from the end of a pool, smalls spheres of water clinging to her exposed skin. For some reason, even in this daydream, Katara’s hair was loud and proud.

“So…” Katara trailed off. “You like tennis.”

“Tennis is the superior sport.” Azula commented plainly. “I don’t like team sports, and it demands both talent and skill of the individual, and physical strength. Even then, you also have to put in countless hours of practise to keep your gameplay top notch. No sport determines a person’s worth like tennis.”

Katara bumped Azula with her hip playfully. “Sounds like a you kind of sport.”

Azula was going to say that Katara didn’t know her at all, but she bit her tongue.

The house came into view. She saw the number six on the mailbox, and immediately placed it as Katara and Sokka’s. The Waters’ House. It was… Small. It wasn’t unlike the other houses on the street, either. Azula never understood why all the houses on the same street always had to look the same.

It was roughly the same size as the shed in the Agni garden, where Zuko took his friends to hang out. Azula remembered that Katara was one of those friends. Had she ever seen Katara there before? She couldn’t recall if she had or not. Usually, if Zuko was having friends over, Azula would stay in her room or go to Ty-Lee’s or Mai’s. Even so, he’d caught her off guard once or twice. He was worse at replying to the family group chat than she was.

“You have a nice house.” Azula said.

Katara turned to her, lifting a perfectly sculpted eyebrow. “We haven’t even gone inside yet?”

“That is to say,” _Crap. She’d said it too soon._ “You have a nice house… Exterior.”

Katara wrinkled her nose, but at least she was still smiling. “You’re weird, you know that?”

She pressed open the door to her house.

“By the way,” She said hesitantly, turning back to Azula, “My parents aren’t home. And my brother and your brother are, you know…”

Azula rolled her eyes. “Gallivanting at the beach, no doubt. I’m sure your brother is a terrible influence on him. He used to be so weak-willed.”

Katara giggled, stepping into the small foyer. As she took off her shoes, and directed Azula to do the same, she gave Azula a tiny verbal tour of the small house. She pointed to the room next to her, which was attached to a narrow hallway, and told her that was the bathroom. Obviously the bedrooms and other bathroom were upstairs. Azula wasn’t sure how a household could function with just two bathrooms. What if three people needed to use the facilities at once? Down the hallway was the kitchen, and Azula could smell something delicious, like curried plums, but before she could ask what it was, Katara was dragging her into the sitting room.

It was… Homely.

Nothing at all like Azula’s sitting room back at her house. The one in her house had white walls and dark wood floors, and the furniture was black and almost flat to the floor. Her sitting room had a flatscreen that went unused, and a pool table that Zuko and Azula occasionally sparred with, when they had something to fight over. The walls in her house were decked tastefully with expensive artwork, and there was never a speck of dust on any of the furniture – the maids made sure of that.

This sitting room was on the other side of the sitting room spectrum. In fact, Azula might even call it a _living room_. The couches were worn and looked plush, probably with so little support that you could sit down and simply sink into them – and they were covered in furs and blankets, something that Ozai would never allow in their sitting room at home. There was a cupboard behind said sofas, stuffed with DVDs and board games, and other items that seemed like they really belonged in the garbage. There was a coffee table, and in front of the coffee table, there was a small Tv. The floor was a soft carpet, and there were patches of stains here, there, and everywhere, and the walls – unlike any wall in the entirety of the Agni mansion – was covered in family portraits.

Azula reached for one, but Katara grabbed her wrist in alarm.

“My apologies.” Azula said quickly, retracting her hand. She wasn’t used to other people’s homes. She’d have to learn the etiquette. Whenever she went to Mai and Ty-Lee’s, this was never a problem. The two of them lived very similarly to Azula, and what was theirs was hers.

“No, it’s okay.” Katara said bashfully. “That’s just an embarrassing picture.”

“Oh, is it?” Azula hummed, leaning in to get a better look at it.

A young Katara was stood next to a boy must be Sokka, and they appeared to be at Disneyland. If Azula had to guess the age of Katara, she would pick four. She was wearing Minnie the Mouse ears, and smiling a big smile, one tooth missing at the front of her mouth. Sokka was missing about eight, from the looks of it. He looked like a pirate.

“You’re cute.” Azula said, looking up to Katara. The girl really did look embarrassed. Azula, who didn’t want to be kicked out of her house, decided to quickly change the subject. “Why is your brother missing half of his teeth? Does he need dentures now?”

Katara laughed. It was a good sound. “No. He just needed money to buy this stupid boomerang, so he started ripping them out. Every time he’d cry and cry, but he kept doing it.”

“A boomerang?” Azula said, interested. “Can I see it? I have an interest in weapons.”

“Sure.” Katara shrugged. “If you want to go to his room.”

Azula wrinkled her nose. “Never mind. I’ve been in enough teenage boys’ room to know that I don’t want to.”

Katara’s mouth opened, closed, then opened again.

“Oh,” She said shortly. “I thought you were gay.”

Azula blinked.

“…I am?” This girl was an enigma. It seemed like nothing connected from one conversation to the next.

“Then… Then…” And now she looked positively _panicked?_

“ _Oh_.” Azula realised how Katara had made the connection. What a strange way to think. “I have only been into one teenage boy’s room, and that would be my brother’s. Trust me, it was more than enough.”

Relief seemed to wash over Katara’s face – which was odd – and was promptly followed by a wide smile.

“You’re kind of funny.” She said. “I didn’t think you’d be funny, too.”

“Too?”

Katara shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. Do you want to eat before we hang out.”

“I was wondering what that smell was.” Azula said, following Katara into the kitchen. “It smells divine.” She knew praise was appreciated by those whose homes you visited, and besides, it _did_ smell awfully good.

“Thanks.” Katara mumbled. She was putting a tray of something in the oven – they looked like pastries, and by the smell of the room, they were probably filled with jam. Her form was outlined as she bent down to slot them in, and Azula’s eyes traced the long curves of her legs.

The kitchen was equally alien to Azula, just as the living room had been. It was small, and the sides were clean(ish), but plants and pots and other various decorations littered the counters. There was an extensive spice rack, the colours ranging from the lightest greens to the deepest reds, with everything in between, which Azula found herself appreciating. She liked spicey food. And there were even more family portraits, too. It was like there wasn’t a wall in the house that didn’t have at least one picture. Some of them, the older ones, even had a woman in it – an older woman, who was probably Katara’s mother.

“Do you want to listen to some music?”

“I wouldn’t find it intolerable.” Azula nodded.

“You like Taylor Swift, right?”

“Yes. Of course.” Azula rolled her eyes. “I have _taste._ ”

Katara scoffed then giggled, pressing a button on the cyan blue speaker on the windowsill. It was next to a large, leafy plant, and Katara’s slender hand brushed against the leaf. Azula noticed her nails, trimmed and pretty. A good shape. She caught herself in surprise, unsure as to why she was thinking about that. Good for what?

The familiar acoustic intro of _22_ by Taylor Swift blasted through the room. Azula immediately smiled at Katara, who returned it. It was a guilty pleasure of Azula’s – she listened to music like any common fool, but Taylor Swift was her specific pleasure. She had actually recently had an argument about Taylor with Zuko. He’d said she didn’t need a Taylor Swift playlist, and that she could just play from the albums. Something about playlists being for a mixture of artists; an absurd notion. Azula had insisted that she needed a place for the _best Taylor songs_. He’d been displeased that in her opinion, Taylor Swift had exactly three hours and forty six minutes’ worth of ‘best songs’.

“Do you want to dance with me?” Katara asked, holding out her hand. Azula stared at it for a moment. This was bordering on _date_ activity, and she knew it. Then again, Azula had often danced with Ty-Lee when they were younger. It was probably something of that nature. Plus, this particular song was hard not to dance to.

She shrugged, taking Katara’s hand and letting the girl sway alongside her. Katara wasn’t a bad dancer in comparison to Azula, but neither of them were particularly good. Azula would have found this embarrassing if anyone knew what they were doing, but in those moments she let herself let go, thoughts of pressure and her family’s expectations drifting away down a body of water. Ironic, then, that she’d be dancing with Katara.

“You’re not bad.” Katara grinned, pulling Azula a little closer to her body. Azula felt a warmth rush in her chest, and ended up able to do nothing but smile.

Once the food was ready, which _did_ turn out to be pastries filled with a special kind of jam that Katara’s mother used to make, they sat down on the floor of the kitchen, Taylor Swift continuing to play in the background, and dug in. Azula was surprised it tasted so good. She’d been preparing to say it was good no matter how it tasted, but in truth, it was delicious. The pastry was flakey and the filling was sweet, but not overpowering.

“This is really good.” She praised. “I’m surprised.”

Katara hit her shoulder lightly, laughing.

“What was that for?” Azula frowned. “I gave you a compliment.”

“Hm.” Katara grinned, taking another bite of her pastry. “What do you want to do now? We could watch something…”

“We’re really not going to do any math, are we?” She hummed, standing up. Instinctually, she offered her hand to Katara, who looked at it like it was a foreign object. “What?” Azula asked. Was there something on her hand? She checked her palm, but not even a remnant of the jam or pastry remained.

“Nothing.” Katara said quickly, jumping to her feet. “Do you want to watch Naruto? Zuko told me you like it.”

“He _what?_ ” Azula growled, turning away from Katara. “I told him that that under the strictest of confidences.”

Katara poked her side. “ _And_ he told me you cried at one of the movies.”

In truth, Azula had cried at _three_ of the movies, but she would never admit to that. She sent Katara a scalding expression. “I’m leaving.” She announced. “I do not have to stand for this.”

Rather than appearing offended, Katara just laughed again. “You really are stuck-up.” She said. Azula turned to her in fury, but before she knew what was happening, Katara had already grabbed her by the wrist and was dragging her into the living room.

They sat on the couch together, with only an inch of space between them. Katara had her legs crossed, her hand gripping the remote rather tightly as she moved through the options. Azula, with her feet pressed to the floor firmly, submitted to her fate. Sitting with Katara wasn’t so bad, either. The girl had a cooling presence, which was good because Azula’s body heat was usually through the roof. Her mother, when she’d been around, had termed Azula as a girl-shaped radiator. One of the boys she’d liked in her pre-pubescent youth, before she understood that she was gay, Chan, had called her a _furnace._

Their eyes met, and Azula’s darted down to the inch of space between them. Katara seemed to misread what this meant, because she immediately budged closer, closing that space, so that her knee was pressed against the side of Azula’s leg. She was quite cold.

“Are you cold?” She asked, as Katara pressed start on whatever episode of _Naruto_ she’d ended up selecting. Azula, now that her embarrassing secret regarding a taste for anime had been exposed, wasn’t exactly going to complain. Plus, she was particularly fond of this arc.

“A little.” Katara hummed. “My dad always says me and Sokka are cold-blooded.”

Azula didn’t get the joke. She grabbed one of the blankets from behind Katara’s head (that was what they were there for, after all) and put it over Katara’s lap.

“There.” She said. “Problem solved.”

“Do you want to come under it too?” Katara asked hopefully.

“I’m a warm person.” She said. “I don’t need to.”

Katara chuckled to herself. “Right.”

They watched for a while in silence. Azula knew that Katara was growing restless. It wasn’t hard to tell. The girl kept shifting in place, her eyes looking over at Azula. Azula grew restless under that gaze – she wondered if she looked pretty to Katara. If her jaw looked sharp. Subconsciously, she flexed it.

After a few episodes (seriously, Azula could watch this all day), Katara, who had been simmering quietly, blatantly waiting for the chance to speak, finally spoke up.

“I’ve never seen you in the cafeteria.” Katara said. “I only ever see you in math class. And sometimes at your locker.”

Azula sniffed, her eyes still trained on the anime. “What are you? A stalker?”

“No!” Katara said quickly. “No, of course not. I just… Uh… I just realised. You know. You’re quite illusive.”

Azula’s ears perked up. Being called _illusive_ was nice.

“Of course I am.” She sneered, and to her surprise, Katara was giggling again. The credits of that particular episode played, and Azula, who was eagerly awaiting the next fight scene, took the remote control out of Katara’s hand and pressed the next episode. Katara looked at her oddly. Was it considered rude to take the tv remote? Azula wasn’t one hundred percent sure. This was the problem with living as an aristocrat with maids and butlers and chefs in the twenty first century – the peasants were entirely impossible to communicate with.

“You know.” Katara said, once Azula was settled in to watch the next episode. “I see you at Zuko’s house sometimes.”

“Believe it or not, he is my brother.”

“I don’t see you a lot, though. Not as much as I’d have thought. And we go to Zuko’s a lot because of—”

“—The pool. Yes, I know. I hear you in it all the time. I often work with my window open, and can hear pretty much everything. You’re quite a loud group of friends.”

Katara laughed nervously. “I guess so.”

“Anyway, what was your point?”

“Hm?”

“Why bring that up?”

“Oh…” Katara looked away, her face noticeably darkening. “I was just thinking about the first time I saw you. You were… You were intimidating.”

“Did you see one of my games?” Azula guessed.

“No. Actually, you were at the side of your pool. Don’t you remember? I said I liked your, uhm, bikini.”

Azula thought back on it. She had an array of bikinis, all of which were in impeccably good taste. She didn’t, however, remember any encounter with Katara when she’d been wearing one. Perhaps it had been last summer? She’d spent many days in the pool last summer, monopolising the entire space so Zuko’s friends couldn’t get in, out of spite, and occasionally she had been forced to speak to one or two members of the troupe at a time.

“I vaguely remember.” She said. “Which bikini was I wearing?”

“Oh, it was red, with a blue flower pattern, and a blue trim.” Katara said. Azula knew which one she meant, but it didn’t narrow down her field of memory for the actual event of their meeting. She was surprised that Katara could remember it so clearly.

“Hm…” She thought. “No, I don’t remember. Was I rude to you?”

“No.” Katara shook her head. “You were just… You.”

“Well, I do have a habit of that.” Azula muttered, and Katara slapped her arm.

The two laid back on the couch and continued to watch the show. Azula could feel Katara’s patience slipping, and for some reason, she was anxious to keep the girl entertained. She could watch this show for hours – it was about ninjas, so _duh_ – but she knew not everyone had the same capacity as she.

“You have something behind your ear.” Katara said suddenly, turning to Azula and moving a hand to the side of her face. It reminded Azula of the incident at the locker.

“A magic trick?” Azula asked, more to herself.

“Sure.” Katara grinned, moving a strand of hair from Azula’s face. Her eyes were adequately blue, but they stood out profusely against the dark of her skin. Azula blinked. Their faces were awfully close in that moment. Azula couldn’t remember the last time she’d been this close to someone – she could see the bed of Katara’s eyelashes, and the pores running down her t-zone.

“Did you get it?” She muttered, her face heating up. This felt… intimate.

“Hold still.” Katara muttered, and began to lean in. Azula blinked again. A pair of glossed, brown lips was incoming towards her face, and suddenly, suddenly, everything became very, very clear. Crystal _goddamn_ clear.

_They were on a date._

“My apologies!” She yelped, standing up at once. Her face felt like it was on fire. “I…” Her eyes dashed around the room, searching frantically for a way out, but the four walls of the girl’s house seemed to enclose her in, like a prison. “I have to go relieve myself!” She said, far louder than was normal – or polite – and made a beeline to the hall, where Katara had shown her the bathroom earlier.

As soon as she’d slammed the door behind her, she let out a long and suffering sigh, the muscles in her body unclenching. Then, the situation hit her like a tonne of bricks.

“Fuck.” She hissed, moving over to the sink and staring into the white porcelain of the bowl. Her head hit the mirror with a small thud. She looked at herself, at the golden horror in her eyes, and let out a small exhale. What was she going to do? She should have known this was a date. But who invites someone over to their house for a date, in the guise of it being for _studying_? What kind of crazy person _was_ Katara?

She had to think this through carefully. Over the years, her father, and then she, had combed her brain to make it perfect for thinking tactically and with precision. There wasn’t any situation that she couldn’t think through and flip over – she was going to make a magnificent lawyer one day – but in that moment, she was at a complete loss.

So, she did what any teenage girl would do when they reached a complete loss.

“What do you want.” Mai asked flatly. By the looks of it, her and Ty-Lee were snuggled together on Ty-Lee’s bed. There was a chance Ty-Lee was asleep, but at the sound of her girlfriend’s voice, she would soon awake.

“It _was_ a date.” She hissed.

The corner of Mai’s mouth lifted up. “Told you so.”

“This is no time to gloat.” She snapped. “What do I do?”

“What do you mean?” Mai asked, somehow even more flatly. Ty-Lee stirred at her side, eyes opening blearily to see what all the noise was about. As soon as grey eyes met gold through the screen, they widened.

“Azula!” She cried with a smile. Azula turned the volume down on her phone.

“Ty-Lee, this is a crisis.” She said. “I need one of you to come get me now. I’m hauled up in the bathroom. I will wait for your arrival. Be prompt.”

“What?” Ty-Lee blinked. “Oh my god, are you okay? Is Katara okay? Mai, why are you just laying there? Someone has broken into Katara’s house!”

Mai sighed. “Nobody has broken into the house.”

“But—”

“—She just realised she was on a date with Katara, and is now having a gay freak out in the bathroom.”

“Oh.” Ty-Lee blinked, processing said information. “Oh.”

“I still need to be extricated, and at once.” Azula snapped.

“Why? Don’t you like her anymore?” Ty-Lee asked. Her face was full of innocent confusion. Azula was sure it was just a ploy. There was no way that someone could be so foolish.

“ _Anymore?_ ” Azula demanded. “I never liked her in the first place!”

“She might hear you.” Mai said. She didn’t sound like she cared whether or not Katara heard Azula. In fact, she sounded like she wanted Katara to hear her.

“I never liked her in the first place.” Azula repeated, at a lower volume.

Mai smiled a little bit again. “I heard you the first time.”

“No arguing, girlys.” Ty-Lee cried, louder than Azula had been a second ago. Mai scowled at the term she’d disowned earlier, but Azula wasn’t surprised that Ty-Lee had used it again. “Azula, you need a plan. You’re going to have to leave the bathroom at some point.”

“No.”

“What do you mean _no?_ ”

“No. I can’t re-enter that situation. It’s too awkward. It’s not an option.”

Mai sighed. “You do know you created this situation yourself?”

“ _And?_ ” Azula snapped. “That’s irrelevant.”

“Just checking you knew.” Mai whispered, visibly sinking further into the covers of Ty-Lee’s bed. It was obviously from exhaustion, and not for any real regard of Azula’s sharp tone. She’d never been scary to Ty-Lee and Mai, not really. They knew what Azula was like, what she was built from. Perhaps it wasn’t that they knew not to be scared, but they knew why she acted in a way that made others scared, and by that train of thought, she was no longer a source of fear to them.

“Bee-Tee-Dubs.” Ty-Lee chimed. It took a second for Azula to realise she meant _by the way._ “She’s totally going to think you’re shitting.”

Azula’s eyes widened. “Crap!”

“Or crapping.” Ty-Lee shrugged. “Potato, potahto.”

“I’ve probably been in here too long to be relieving myself.” Azula muttered, more to herself than Mai or Ty-Lee.

“She always calls it that.” She heard Ty-Lee muttering. She didn’t have time for her friend’s amusement. She needed a plan.

“Ask her for a pad.” Mai offered. “She’ll think you’re just having period problems.”

“That might even be worse than shitting.” Azula growled.

“Why? She’s a girl too. She’ll get it.” Ty-Lee pointed it out.

“You say that like I’m actually _on_ my period.” Azula sighed. “I could wait till she leaves.”

“Leaves?” Mai asked

“Yes. Vacates the premises.”

“But… Isn’t it her house?”

“And?”

“Why would she leave her own house?”

“To go to school. To see a friend. I don’t know.”

“You’ll keep yourself locked in the bathroom _overnight?_ ” Ty-Lee gasped. “All to avoid a slightly uncomfortable situation? You didn’t even tell us what you did.”

“And I never will.”

“Tell us or I hang up.” Mai said flatly. That settled it. Azula couldn’t brave this alone. The back of her head hit the tiled wall with a small thud.

“She tried to kiss me. I pushed her away and told her I needed to go to the bathroom.”

“Damn.” Mai hissed through her teeth. “Sucks to be Katara.”

“In my defence, I didn’t know it was a date!”

“We _told_ you it was a date.” Ty-Lee cried, and Mai laughed softly at her girlfriend’s outbreak.

“Yeah. Well.” Azula blushed.

“You can’t stay in the bathroom overnight.” Ty-Lee said firmly. “Her dad and brother will be coming home, and they’ll be all, _hey Katara! Why is the downstairs bathroom locked?_ And then when they find out you’ve locked yourself in there, they will call the police. Or the fire service, who will bust down the door and drag you by your hair to the pavement.”

A silence hung over both rooms.

“Oh god.” Mai muttered. “She’s considering it.”

“Azula, _no._ ”

Out of frustration, Azula hung up the call.

Her eyes scanned around the bathroom, whilst she tried to think of a solution to her predicament. The contents of the bathroom were similar to any other bathroom – the toilet, the shower, the sink. There were plants hanging on various walls. It must take a lot of care to keep so many plants, Azula pondered. She wondered if Katara watered them herself. With that mothering nature of hers, it seemed likely.

The surface of the sink was cluttered, but somehow neat as well. It was a reoccurring theme in the house, something that Azula could never hope to recreate. There were three toothbrushes, each a different shade of blue, sat in the pot under the mirror. She could imagine that that caused many an awkward situation. How did they determine who was which shade?

Next to the mirror, was a small window. It was narrow, probably around twenty five centimetres in depth, and two feet in length, and it was placed about a foot above Azula’s head. The glass of the window was translucent, but by the looks of the latch, it was openable.

It gave Azula an idea.

**Mai:** dont do anything stupid

 **Ty-Lee:** just go out there and apologise!!!

 **Ty-Lee:** katara is nice remember!!!

 **Azula:** I have decided to climb out of the window

 **Azula:** I think I can do it

 **Azula:** I don’t really have another option

Her escape attempt started off well. She clambered onto the sink, careful not to knock anything over, and managed to open the window all the way. It was probably used to let out vapour after a long shower. Azula’s face heated up at the thought of Katara, taking a hot, steamy shower. Then, she remembered Sokka used the bathroom as well and immediately scowled.

She slotted one leg through the window, before realising she had no idea how steep it was on the other side. Her head would be a better bet. Turning her neck sideways, she leant forward till she was peering through the window. Whether or not she could jump down was a secondary issue. She got her face and one leg through the hole in the wall. Next, was the rest of her body. It wasn’t a huge drop, probably only a little bigger than the climb up had been. With Azula’s physical prowess, it shouldn’t be a difficult task.

Manoeuvring herself so half of her was exactly out of the window, she caught her hip on the frame.

“Fuck.” She mumbled, her eyes tearing up. That hurt. She hoped it wouldn’t bruise.

Unfortunately, after that, it didn’t appear that her body was going to fit through the frame anymore. No matter how she moved, she couldn’t go any further through. She was immobilised. There was no going through the window.

Eventually, she consigned to her fate, and began to backpedal. Unfortunately for her, it didn’t seem like her body wanted to go that way, either.

“Oh, fuck.” She said again, with more despair.

She was stuck.

“Azula?” The door to the bathroom opened. Was it not _locked?_ Azula’s eyes widened in terror, but she didn’t have the ability to look back in her current position. She could imagine easily what Katara was seeing, however – the girl who had agreed (albeit unknowingly) to go on a date with her, hanging out of the bathroom window. An obvious, and terribly performed escape attempt. Azula was humiliated, beyond humiliated.

Katara was probably heartbroken. She could imagine her face. Frown deepening with each passing second, eyes watering.

What Azula hadn’t expected was the laughter.

“What are you _doing?_ ” She cried. Azula felt a hand tug on her leg. “Are you stuck?”

“No.” She said defiantly. “I dropped something.”

The lie wasn’t believable; she knew that.

“What did you drop?” Katara teased.

“My dignity, it appears.” Azula muttered. “Would you mind pulling me back through?”

“Will you say please?” Katara asked.

“I will not.”

There was a clear sigh. “Very well, Azula.”

She liked the way Katara said her name, but didn’t have time to think about it. After a moment, and a brief tug, she found herself stood in the bathroom, Katara’s hands resting on her waist. She was stronger than Azula had expected, but she was the captain of the swim team so maybe the tennis player shouldn’t have been surprised. The hands were immediately retracted, and Katara smiled awkwardly.

“So.” She said, smiling, but not as big as before. “Sorry if I made you uncomfortable.”

“Shouldn’t I be saying that?” Azula questioned.

“I should have known you weren’t interested. I just thought that was how you were, you know. And… Well, Sokka told me to do the hair kiss thing. I’m gonna kill him when he gets home. And then possibly myself. Anyway, I’ll drive you home if you want. You don’t have to… Climb from my window. Uhm.”

“Ah, yes.” Azula stared daggers at the frame of glass. “Sorry about that.”

For some reason, her apology seemed to please Katara.

“It’s okay. You’re not hurt, are you? We have a good first aid kit, if you need it.”

“No. I am unharmed.”

“Well, good. You were in there for forty minutes. I was worried you were having a panic attack or something.” Katara’s eyebrows moved upwards in the centre of her face, but her smile didn’t waver. “But I thought maybe you’d come out eventually. Then, I heard the window open.”

“Sorry again.”

“So, you _do_ say sorry.” Katara grinned. Azula remembered what she’d said earlier.

“Apparently.” She replied dryly.

Katara’s smile brightened even more. It was entirely unfathomable. Azula blinked. She was looking at Azula like the girl hadn’t done anything wrong. If she wasn’t so radiant, Azula might have found it annoying. There was something about her eyes, in that moment. They were enticing. Too enticing. An impulse overtook Azula before she could stop it.

Before she knew what had possessed her, Azula had lunged forward and pressed her face against Katara’s. There was a moment of surprise – from both girls – before Katara submitted to the kiss, her hand entwining behind Azula’s nape, the hair slotting between her fingers. Katara had soft lips. Azula moved her own with delight, enjoying the pliable nature of the girl in front of her.

Then, she stepped back, abhorred.

“Fuck.” She said, not for the first time.

Katara laughed. “You are hopeless, you know? Do you like me or not?”

“I… I…” Azula blinked. “I think I do?” It was as much of a realisation to her as it was to Katara.

“Well, good.” Katara grinned, grabbing Azula’s hand and leading her back to the living room. “But I know I like you, so catch up.”

Azula sunk into the comfortable couch in the living room. She’d have to go home soon – it was dark outside, and she wasn’t oblivious to the text messages her father was sending her. Katara joined her, slotting into her side. Azula couldn’t say she minded.

“So, let me get this straight—Don’t say it.” She raised her hand to Katara’s mouth before the girl said something along the lines of, _let me get this gay._ Zuko’s friends were exactly like him, and in the worst ways. Katara’s lips were soft against the pads of Azula’s fingers, and she smiled. “You decided to lure me to your house for a date by asking me if you could tutor me? That doesn’t sound insane to you?”

“Well, I wouldn’t say _lure._ You dork.” Katara muttered.

“What if I never got a math question wrong?”

“Everyone gets stuff wrong sometimes.” Katara pointed out. “It was a waiting game.”

“And it really seemed like the most effective method to you?” Azula asked.

“This was the most _efficient_ method.”

“And you call me a dork.” She muttered. “That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.”

“Says the girl who would rather climb out of my window than kiss me.”

Azula glowered, grabbing Katara’s face and pressing a soft kiss to her nose. Katara’s cheeks darkened, causing Azula to smirk.

“You should have just asked me to hung out to start with.” She muttered.

Katara leant forward and kissed Azula’s cheek, making Azula shiver. She whispered, “You would have said no.”

“You don’t know that for certain!”

“Yes, I do. Have you seen your face? Real RBF case.”

Azula had been friends with Mai and Ty-Lee long enough to know that meant _resting bitch face_ – Ty-Lee was the kind of person to use such slang, and Mai was the kind of person she could use it against.

“I don’t. Silence yourself.” Azula grumbled, turning away from Katara. She never wanted to leave the couch, but that didn’t mean she had to look at Katara.

“You’re cute when you’re angry.”

“This seems like a terrible bedrock for our relationship.” Azula mused sarcastically, picking at the couch with one of her nails. She’d have to trim then when she got home.

“Relationship?” Katara was wearing that annoying smile again. Azula could _hear_ it. The one that meant she was enjoying whatever embarrassing thing Azula had said. However, she didn’t think what she’d said was embarrassing. To her, it seemed rather obvious.

She turned back. “Well, this was a date right?”

“Yes.”

“And protocol declares that if you go on a date with someone, and it goes well, then you go on another date.”

“That’s… True.” Katara said slowly.

“And once you start attending such procedures regularly, then you are dating. Aren’t you? And dating is how relationships start? Hence, the bedrock of a relationship.”

“But we haven’t agreed to a second date.” Katara pointed out.

Azula frowned. “I didn’t think we had to.”

“Oh.” Katara eyes widened. Then she smiled brightly, leaning forward and wrapping her arms around Azula’s head and bringing her to her chest. Azula was immediately suffocating in the hold, but the sweet smell of Katara’s perfume made it worth it. And her hair. _God,_ Azula loved her hair. “Cool.”

“Are you blushing?” Azula asked, her face mushed into Katara’s skin.

“Shut up, Azula.”

“I can’t believe she tried to climb through the window. The gang is going to freak out.” Zuko said. Mai started laughing again.

They were working their joint shift at hot topic that morning, and neither were particularly interested in talking usually, but that day, Mai had come in laughing her head off. She had been giggling as she served each customer, laughing quietly whenever she was given a moment of peace, and smiling to herself whenever she managed to control her outbursts.

“Oh, god!” She cried, hitting her hand on the cash register. It made a loud noise, like change shaking in the bottom of a jacket pocket, but ten times louder. It was somewhat disconcerting for her to find something so funny. Zuko wasn’t a big fan of stoical people, and Mai was usually just that, but today he was wishing she’d just go back to normal. “Yes!” She cried. “Tell everyone! Please, for the love of god, tell everyone! I don’t care if she kills me.”

And so Zuko did, and soon thereafter, everyone decided that Azula was definitely good enough for Katara. In fact, they all wanted to be her friend, much to Azula’s dismay.

**Author's Note:**

> i had the idea, i wrote the idea. this is literal word vomit that i went through once and published. ur welcome.


End file.
